Darwinian theory states that humans evolved on Earth and are consequently adapted to interact beneficially with their environment. For example, when exposed to sunlight, human skin synthesizes vitamin D, a useful vitamin for overall wellbeing. The use of blue light (i.e., the color of the sky), when used in conjunction with an aminolevulinic acid treatment, is documented to improve porphyrin response times in skin.
The human eye is another organ known to react to environmental factors. Phototherapy, or the science of exposing the body to a spectrum of light for therapeutic purposes, is known or believed to be effective in treating Seasonal Affective Disorder, nonseasonal depressions, and delayed sleep phase syndrome when specific types of light are received by the human eye. Applicant's technology relates to known benefits associated with short-term exposition of the human breathing apparatus to mildly ionized air.
The Earth's environment includes an atmosphere made mostly of oxygen gas (O2), nitrogen gas (N2), water vapor (H2O), some carbon dioxide gas (CO2), and traces of rare gases such as hydrogen gas (H2). These gaseous molecules are found in greater proportions in their neutral electrical valence than in positively or negatively charge valences. In the environment, because of a plurality of natural causes, including, for example, lightning, static electricity, cosmic irradiation, chemical processes, and even molecular interactions, the valence of these molecules can change from positive to negative or vice versa. A negative ion is a neutral molecule holding an extra electron defined by convention as a negative charge (O2−, N2−, H2O−, CO2−, H2−, or O3−). A positive ion is a neutral molecule with one missing electron resulting in a positive charge of the molecule. In air, some of these ions are found as molecules surrounded by neutral valence water vapor. Numerous control studies have shown that human wellbeing is enhanced in artificially environments having negative ionization. Other studies have shown that high-voltage or high-frequency ionization of air can result in the creation of undesired chemical reactions in air, including, for example, the formation of O3, NO2, NO3, H2O(O3), etc.
Joshua Shaw is the owner of U.S. Pat. No. 5,973,905, which is incorporated fully herein by reference and is directed to a tabletop negative air ion generator with selectable frequencies. This invention is directed to a multineedle generator capable of voltage and frequency modulation to create a controlled electronic corona to break down the dielectric potential of some molecules in air. The principle technology is the creation of a strong localized magnetic field capable of exciting molecules at natural resonating frequencies in the vicinity of a sharp tipped needle where the curvature is maximized to bend the magnetic field to greater potentials.
However, negative and positive ions are naturally unstable and revert to their neutral state once they encounter their counterpart, or in the case of a positive ion, once it finds a loose electron. For the beneficial effect of the current invention to be observed, a noticeable quantity of ions must be produced and placed in the atmosphere. The inventor's previous device is equipped with a plurality of ion-producing needles, each capable of generating a flux sufficient to produce an ionized environment within a room. The device is large, requiring prominent placement in a room, and many ions are lost to transfer within the room, thereby limiting the beneficial effect. Further, the energy needed to operate the prior art device with a plurality of needles is greater than the energy needed to operate a device with a single needle.
What is needed is an ion-producing device where a greater quantity of the ions produced are used beneficially, waste is reduced, and energy is conserved. What is also needed is an ion generator capable of integration within the environment.